Peer Group Chat // The Power of Possibility // Thursday 27th April 2023, 7-8:30PM AEDT

[amber22]

Hey everyone!

On Thursday 27th of April 2023, we will be holding a Peer Group Chat on the topic of The Power of Possibility.

Hope and possibility can be a big driver in recovery. However, there may be moments where hope seems “silly” or possibility seems lost, despite both being important. Let’s come together to talk about what hope and possibility means to us and why we hold on to it! After all, you never know what might be waiting for you around the corner.

The event start times across Australia are below:

Western Australia: 5pm 
Northern Territory & South Australia: 6:30pm 

Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria & Tasmania: 7pm

For anyone unfamiliar with Peer Group Chats, each focuses on a specific topic and is guided by Peer Workers with lived experience of mental health issues and recovery, &/or caring for someone with complex mental health. A counsellor is also present as a moderator to help ensure a safe environment for individuals and the group. It is a space for us as peers to share our stories and experiences, and connect with those who are going through something similar. 

Anyone is welcome to join! Tagging some members who may be interested below:

 @CatMom  @Snowie @Shaz51 @Captain24 @Laura4 @creative_writer @Adge @Jacques @tonys  @Bobbie @sammy3 @justanotherguy @Owlunar @tonys @Shaz51 @creative_writer @Laura4 @mamabear88 @Jacques @Sophia1 @NatureLover @Appleblossom @Dimity  @LeChuck @StuF @Smiling_Gecko @sammy3 @BlueBay @wellwellwellnez @meggle

Peer Group Chats are hosted outside of the forums, using a platform called Chatwee. 

To join an Online Peer Group and participate, you will need to register for an account with Chatwee.
To access the group to observe only and not participate, you can access Chatwee as a Guest.
On the night, follow this link to access Chatwee before the group starts.
You can join our Peer Group Chats every Thursday from 7:00-8:30pm (AEDT). Check out the FAQs page for more information.  

We hope to see you there 😊 If you can't make it but are interested, you can always catch up reading the transcript afterwards here. We also invite you to continue the conversation below on this thread if you can't make the night but also wish to contribute some of your responses. We will post some dot point prompts on the day that can get the conversation started if you're unable to make the live event!

[Appleblossom]

I will have to be an apology for that discussion. @amber22 but I LOVE the variety and quality of topics being set for the community.  It makes for rich discussion rather than narrow buzzwords, or a one size or strategy fits all.  It normalises mental health struggles and puts them in a living perspective, rather than a medicalised model or worse a patholoigcal one.

I will be singing.

cheers Apple

[amber22]

Aw thank you so much for your lovely feedback! @Appleblossom 

I'm so glad you're enjoying the topics recently! ❤️

Have a lovely day 🙂

[TideisTurning]

Hi Everyone, 

Just a reminder that the next Online Peer Group Chat on the Power of Possibility will take place tonight from 7-8:30pm AEST.  As always, for ease of reference, times across Australia are in the graphic and listed below: 

Western Australia: 5pm 
Northern Territory & South Australia: 6:30pm 

Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria & Tasmania: 7pm 

Tonight, you can expect discussion about: 

• What hope and possibility mean to you 
• Why it might seem silly to hold space for hope and possibility sometimes 
• The benefits and challenges of hope and possibility 

Tagging members who have supported or otherwise interacted with the thread so far as well as those who may be interested to receive a reminder: @Snowie @Captain24 @Shaz51 @chibam @Bobbie @Former-Member @Oaktree @Jacques @Birdofparadise8 @creative_writer @tonys Hope you can make it. To join us, head here. Otherwise, if you're not able to attend live tonight or you don't make it in the end, we'd still love to hear your thoughts on the topic! Feel free to share anything you'd like (within guidelines of course!) here in this thread using the dot points above as guiding prompts if you'd like/ would find that helpful 😊

[TideisTurning]

Hi Everyone, 

Just a reminder that this Peer Group Chat on the topic of The Power of Possibility will be starting very soon, in around 15 minutes at 7PM AEST! Tagging those who have interacted with the thread and who may be online and/or interested to receive a reminder 😊

@Oaktree @Shaz51 @Snowie @chibam @creative_writer @Captain24 @Bow @Determined @Eve7 @Faith-and-Hope @Gillie1 @Harry1 @Jane24 @Mooy25 @Saphire87 @Former-Member @StuF @Unicorn28 @mazarine @Alejandro @Down2 @Historylover @Meowmy @Owlunar @CloudBerry @Emelia8 @Jake76 @Tennie @greenpea 

Hope you can make it. To join us, head here, or, for those interested but unable to join live, you are more than welcome to continue the conversation and/or share your thoughts below on this thread and we might come back to share a few extras also 🙂

[TideisTurning]

Hey Everyone, 

Following on from our chat about the Power of Possibility, I have an extra question from someone in our community to pose to all of you- How to hold onto hope in possibilities when it has been dashed so many times and your fear tells you possibilities are a waste of energy? 

Really keen to hear all of your thoughts on this
@Appleblossom @Bow @Emelia8 @Faith-and-Hope @creative_writer @Oaktree @tonys @Shaz51 @Captain24 @Jacques + anyone else who would like to share or contribute 😊 

For my part, through reflection on this particular topic and this question above, I was reminded of the song ‘Just Around The Riverbend’ from Pocahontas. I'm not sure how much it relates to the topic itself, but what resonated for me with it is the idea of whatever might be waiting just around that riverbend, which at this stage, I may not know about yet. That idea of ‘maybe’ or 'what if'', like a bit of a light to look forward to and help guide me out of darkness (which, bonus fun fact, is part of the reason my forums picture is a lighthouse 😊). Has anyone had that experience of managing to make it through a hard and/or dark time only to find something really good, a bright light, waiting for them just around the riverbend? I'd love to hear about it if so! Or otherwise, what might that light be that you try to hold onto through darkness?

Another thing I came across is this talk on the idea of there being no such thing as 'false hope' from gifted neurosurgeon Dr. Charlie Teo. Watching this, it seems key to Dr. Teo’s philosophy and the way he approaches his work, is this idea of ‘maybe’. In Dr. Teo’s line of work, not doing anything will be unlikely to change the situation of his patients. Trying, aiming for maybe, carries risks (as does nearly everything and anything in life), but taking that risk, taking the chance, and reaching for that possibility, also carries the potential for that possibility to turn into reality. For maybe to turn into a definite. I’d love to hear if anyone here has had that kind of experience, where holding hope paid off when the possibility you may have been hoping for has become a reality?

[Appleblossom]

'Holding Hope' is a beautiful term @TideisTurning 

I seem to have lived on the 'smell of an oily rag' ... with regards to HOPE, however I much prefer your gentler wholesome metaphor of the song ... we all know now ... that too many fumes are not good.

Around the river bend ... main message seems to be deferred gratification ... not knowing what we do not know ... had a great day traversing river bends with grandson last week ... WONDERFUL ... and I love him ... but does it make all the pain and suffering in my family worthwhile ... no it does not ... so we need space for the complexity ... of real life.

[Appleblossom]

Re Charlie Teo talk:  he is very nuanced, and I respect it.  Just listening now.  Noticing date is 7 years ago.

 @TideisTurning 

I am wary of the title of the talk ... it may be trying to sell me something....I believe there can false hope ... and that is also a nuanced conversation.

Yes media can be alarming with its tendency to catastrophic stories. Yes it can generate a sense of fear, despair and hoplessness that can be 'contagious'.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/28/charlie-teo-accused-of-giving-opportunistical...

oops not through talk yet but this has come up ... in my google search... more recent ....

Need to comoplete both ... before I post....I do not have expertise or sufficient information to comment on guardian article  ... we do need to be careful re links ...

back to talk ...

my brother had science education and funds and accessed best health across world at the time ... but still passed from his cancer 7 years ago.  I did go to an international cancer conference with him before he died.

Teo discusses ... review of medical literature ... and seeking consensus amongst colleagues ... ... I do recognise ... that scientific consensus is less unified than most people who are not scientifically literate ... may think ... its complicated.  I stick to scientific method ... keeping it simple ... hypothesis and testing the hyposthesis. Also there is experimental error ... 

 ... alright ... he had upset the medical establishment ... before he did this talk.

Here are ... Apples reactions to a vid ... its a new recognised genre I guess....

Quality of life ... discussion ... is relevant.

We do have to be careful to jump to positivity in the mental health field ... before listening AND FULLY COMPREHENDING the scenarios of the particular person involved.... how about a bit of ... Personalised medicine over generalised public health ... in clinical settings ... each clinician needs to take responsibility that they do understand client/patient, rather than assume or pull power games out of the hat.

My story ... involves 5 deaths and 4 premature deaths in my immediate family ...and I am not THAT old yet... even got a mumma bear on this forum.  I do not believe I catastrophise ...or even am that negative, it is very hard LIVED EXPERIENCE. I am a bit wary of over confidence in surgical interventions ... the human body is pretty complicated and docs in general, need to admit more of what they DO NOT KNOW... yet ...

This week I had to put up with an anecdotal story by a pathologist, without children, who over justified consensual science and the whole Covid debacle on the basis of her being caring about visiting her mother in aged care ...and sprayed her contempt of 'misinformation". Lucky me, I have socialised with all sorts of medicos. At least I had work experience in aged care and personal experience and KNOW the difference between the work and personal life. She did not seem to. Empathy and care ... are also complex ... we really need more than statements of "I care" or "I am empathetc" but SHOWING the care somehow, even if just verbally.... by connecting some dots ...

I have some sense of the limits of science and scientists, hung around with too many, due to the fact that a LOT of attention, effort and study is required to be proficient at a very small field.  Its not really due to fault among scientists. More it is due to limit of current knowledge.   

Yep had communication from my little brother whilst he was living in Germany. It was known to be more progressive and experimental in medical terms than here. He actually manouvered a small business over there, and got access to their health insurance, while he had cancer.  Yep another solid theme in my family is being productive and working while unwell.

Back to HOPE ... and the power of possibility ...

it is huge ... however ... be careful of peddling false hope. ...

"False hope .. there's no such thing" ... was a good rhetorical flourish to end a talk ...

@TideisTurning  you asked ... 

Gently Bently

Apple

[Captain24]

I’m the past dark times I’ve always had hope and could hold onto it to come through. I have made it out before.  This time the darkness has completely enveloped me. For me in my mindset is the fear of never getting out or if I do, the fear of possibly ending up here again. So I don’t see the point in wasting energy on it anymore if it’s not worth it. While saying that I am doing the right things to try and make it through. So at the same time I guess it’s a little bit of possibility. But I’m not holding onto hope. 

[Shaz51]

@TideisTurning  i think is is sooo awesome to continue a thread after each peer chat on a thursday night , thank you my friend 

@Appleblossom , @Captain24 , @amber22 , @Jacques , @Snowie